Full-time employment
Full-time employment refers to a work arrangement in which employees typically work a minimum number of hours each week, often defined as thirty or more hours in many contexts, including the United States under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Full-time employees generally receive greater compensation and benefits compared to part-time workers, including health insurance, paid vacation, and retirement plans. However, these employees are also expected to commit more hours, which may impact their ability to engage in personal pursuits.
Globally, definitions of full-time employment can vary, with many countries aligning closely with the thirty to forty-hour workweek standard. The historical evolution of full-time employment has shifted significantly from pre-Industrial Revolution agricultural work to modern manufacturing and service jobs, with labor movements advocating for better working conditions and hours. Laws regulating full-time employment differ across countries, but many industrialized nations maintain similar standards to those of the U.S., ensuring that full-time workers are entitled to certain protections and benefits. Overall, while full-time employment can offer financial stability and career advancement opportunities, it can also present challenges in balancing work with other aspects of life.
On this Page
Subject Terms
Full-time employment
Full-time employment is a type of employment that is typically earned by working a minimum number of hours per week. In the United States, under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), large employers (those with fifty or more full-time equivalent employees) are required to offer health insurance to full-time employees. The ACA specifically defines full-time as working an average of thirty hours or more per week, or 130 hours per month. However, employers are otherwise free to set their own requirements for full-time status.
In most cases, full-time employees are compensated more than part-time employees. This might include higher wages, pensions, health benefits, and paid vacation days. However, they are required to work more hours than part-time employees and may be held to a higher standard. To avoid paying benefits, some companies may hire significantly more part-time employees than full-time employees.
Employment laws vary throughout the world. However, most of the world’s largest economies have similar standards for full-time employment. This involves a minimum number of weekly hours ranging from thirty to forty hours. Some countries, such as France and Germany, limit the amount of time employees may work in a single day.
Background
Throughout much of human history, there was little division between full-time work and part-time work. Workweeks were not structured in the same manner as the modern era. For example, prior to the Industrial Revolution of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, a large portion of the workforce was composed of agricultural laborers. These workers were predominately subsistence farmers, meaning they were self-employed and worked to ensure they had enough food to feed their families. This work was difficult and was estimated to require at least eight to ten hours of hard labor a day for at least six months out of the year. However, these workers rarely recorded their schedules, making it difficult for historians to firmly determine the length of the average workweek.
By the nineteenth century, many Americans had begun to shift away from agricultural jobs to manufacturing jobs, resulting in a change in the concept of full-time employment. In the late nineteenth century, the Census of Manufactures began to track the hourly schedules of manufacturing workers. This provided a clear picture of the evolution of full-time employment. During this period, average full-time work for a factory employee typically ranged from sixty to sixty-nine hours each week.
Many American workers were displeased with the number of hours they were being forced to work each week. They wanted to limit the number of days and hours that they were required to work. At the time, some manufacturing employees and trade workers were forced to work one hundred hours each week if they wanted to keep their jobs. Groups of laborers banded together into unions that worked together to gain better deals for the workers under their charge. The unions used tactics such as strikes to force employers to negotiate with them and make concessions. After several decades of protests, strikes, and activism, the government passed the Fair Labor Standards Act in 1940. This act reduced federal full-time employment to forty hours, setting the standard for the rest of the United States.
Overview
The Fair Labor Standards Act did not create a specific definition for a full-time employee. Instead, employers were allowed to define the difference between part-time employees and full-time employees. The Affordable Care Act, which President Barack Obama signed into law in 2010, set the federal standard for full-time employment at thirty hours per week. However, in most cases, employers are still allowed to set their own rules for full or part-time employees. Surveys show that full-time American workers tend to put in eight and a half hours each workday, working 35 to 40 hours per week.
The Affordable Care Act mandates that certain employees working an average of thirty or more hours per week be offered health insurance. There are no legal requirements that American full-time employees be offered any additional benefits. However, many businesses incentivize their full-time positions with additional compensation. These added benefits can include paid sick time, paid vacation time, premium health insurance plans, dental and vision insurance, life insurance, and may even include employer-matched retirement plans or stock options.
After the passage of the Affordable Care Act, some employers sought to avoid the financial burden of offering employees health insurance. To accomplish this, they reduced the number of employees offered thirty or more hours per week, increasing the number of part-time workers and decreasing the number of full-time workers.
In addition to employer benefits, full-time employment offers other significant advantages over part-time employment. Because full-time employees work more hours, they tend to make more money than part-time employees at the same company. Additionally, full-time employees are often viewed as long-term investments by companies, increasing the odds of employees earning raises and promotions. However, the increased hours associated with full-time employment may make it difficult to pursue endeavors outside the workplace, such as families, hobbies, or academics.
Laws differentiating full-time employment from part-time employment vary from country to country. The G8 is a group of highly industrialized nations, each with its own laws regulating its workers. However, most employment regulations in these nations are similar to those in the United States. For example, in both Canada and the United Kingdom, full-time employees are expected to work thirty or more hours per week. In Germany, full-time employees are expected to work thirty-six to forty hours each week. In Russia, full-time employees are expected to work forty hours each week.
Additionally, employers in G8 nations are typically required to limit the length of shifts employees work. In France, shifts may not typically exceed ten hours except when agreed upon by collective bargaining. In Germany, shifts may not typically exceed eight hours.
Bibliography
“Average Hours Employed People Spent Working on Days Worked by Day of Week.” US Bureau of Labor Statistics, www.bls.gov/charts/american-time-use/emp-by-ftpt-job-edu-h.htm. Accessed 14 Nov. 2024.
Doyle, Alison. “How Many Hours a Week Is a Full-Time Job?” The Balance Careers, 20 Oct. 2021, www.thebalancecareers.com/how-many-hours-a-week-is-full-time-employment-2063404. Accessed 14 Nov. 2024.
Edwards, Sarah. “Average Hours Worked Per Week By U.S. Employees.” Consumer Shield, 6 Nov. 2024, www.consumershield.com/articles/average-work-hours-per-week. Accessed 14 Nov. 2024.
Marie, Valentine. “French Labor Laws.” Expatica, 2024, www.expatica.com/fr/working/employment-law/french-labor-laws-104533. Accessed 14 Nov. 2024.
Gray, Kate. “Work-Life Balance: A Review of Working Hours Around the World.” Omnipresent, 13 Jan. 2021, www.omnipresent.com/articles/work-life-balance-a-review-of-working-hours-around-the-world. Accessed 14 Nov. 2024.
“Hours of Work in U.S. History.” Economic History Association, eh.net/encyclopedia/hours-of-work-in-u-s-history. Accessed 14 Nov. 2024.
Mulroy, Clare. “How Many Work Hours in a Year? We Counted the Days and Crunched the Numbers.” USA Today, 9 Sept. 2024, www.usatoday.com/story/news/2023/10/13/how-many-working-hours-are-in-a-year/70902897007. Accessed 14 Nov. 2024.
“Number of Full-Time Employees in the U.S. 1990–2023.” Statista, January 2024, www.statista.com/statistics/192356/number-of-full-time-employees-in-the-usa-since-1990/. Accessed 14 Nov. 2024.
“Part-Time vs Full-Time Employees: How Many Hours & How to Classify?” JustWorks, 1 July 2024, justworks.com/blog/part-time-vs-full-time-employees-what-qualifying-hours. Accessed 14 Nov. 2024.
Theodorou, Melina. “20 Advantages and Disadvantages of Full-Time Employment.” CareerAddict, 31 Jan. 2014, www.careeraddict.com/5-disadvantages-of-being-a-full-time-employee. Accessed 14 Nov. 2024.
Ward, Marguerite. “A Brief History of the 8-Hour Workday, Which Changed How Americans Work.” CNBC, 5 May 2017, www.cnbc.com/2017/05/03/how-the-8-hour-workday-changed-how-americans-work.html. Accessed 14 Nov. 2024.